KATHMANDU, May 24, 2010 (IPS) - These days, First Vice-President of Garment Association (GAN) of Nepal Udaya Raj Pandey is mostly seen at the National Campus rather than the GAN office that he once frequented almost every day.

The reason: He has shut down his garment company – Sirin Garments Industries Pvt Ltd – and invested in the educational institution.

The global economic crisis highlighted the necessity of transforming global economic governance. But least developed countries (LDCs) have little voice in this process. It is time they are allowed a seat at the meetings of the Group of 20 industrialised and emerging economies.

The Permanent Representative and Ambassador of Nepal in Geneva Dinesh Bhattarai has stressed on the need of active engagement and partnership of all UN agencies in the process and in the implementation of the outcome of the 4th LDC conference scheduled to take place in Turkey in May next year.

He made the remark in his meeting with the Director General of World Health Organisation, Dr. Margaret Chan, at her office on April 21 2010. The meeting mainly focused in on how the Organisation can assist the Least Developed Countries (LDC) in their development efforts as they are preparing for the Fourth Ministerial Conference.

STATEMENT BY DR. ARJUN KARKI, INTERNATIONAL CO-ORDINATOR, AT THE UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY INFORMAL SESSION IN PREPARATION FOR THE 2010 MDG SUMMIT

UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK, 13 APRIL 2010

Mr Co- chairs, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
I would like to thank the organisers for giving me the opportunity to speak on behalf of LDC Watch, at this Informal Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in preparation for the 2010 MDG Summit. Today, I have been asked to speak about LDC’s perspectives on MDGs with special focus on MDG 8 and Aid Effectiveness.

LDC Watch is a global alliance of national, regional and international civil society organizations, networks and movements based in the 49 LDCs  and supported by civil society from development partner countries. Having evolved out of the parallel NGO Forum during the Third UN LDC Conference (LDC III) in Brussels in 2001, it advocates and campaigns for the effective implementation of the Brussels Programme of Action for LDCs for the Decade 2001-2010 which contains 30 international development goals including those in the Millennium Declaration. However, we go beyond the Brussels Programme in addressing poverty, hunger, social injustices and human rights in the LDCs. With the Brussels Programme timeline coming to an end this year, LDC Watch is now engaging with its official review process that culminates at the Fourth UN Conference on LDCs (LDC IV) in 2011 in Turkey. The Office of the High Representative for LDCs has entrusted LDC Watch to lead and coordinate the civil society process towards the LDC IV.